Port Washington, WI to Sheboygan, WI

We will be docked at Harbor Centre Marina. It is a beautiful marina in a park like setting. They have nice amenities: pool, hot tub, tennis courts, and even a bar on the 2nd floor of the marina office building. Their outside upper deck has a panoramic view of the marina and Lake Michigan.

Sheboygan is an interesting town. At a population of 50,000, it is a bigger city than we have visited lately. Given its rich heritage of German immigrants, it is, not surprisingly, the Bratwurst Capital of the World. What is surprising, is that it is also the Freshwater Surf Capital of the World! Known as the “Malibu of the Midwest”, Sheboygan’s location and geography lends itself to producing some of the best waves on the Great Lakes. Apparently all seasons are ripe for surfing, but prime time is winter. I can’t even imagine!🥶

We have two days to explore this “Malibu of the Midwest”, and they pass quickly. As the marina is within walking distance of downtown, we can easily explore most of this Wisconsin gem on foot.

As it is Sunday, and we are within walking distance of a church, we attend mass at St. Clement. They only have two masses on Sunday, a 9 am (English) and a noon (Spanish). We opt for the 9 am. Two interesting experiences we encountered at this mass. First they offered wine at communion, a rarity since Covid. Second, the priest’s cell phone, while placed on the alter, rang during mass. 😲

Within a block of St. Clement is the Sheboygan Courthouse. It is hard to miss!

We also pass the library, landscaped with a wonderful fountain.

It appears whenever Sheboygan builds something, they go all out!

We also happen upon the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. There is no admission charge and they are open on Sundays. Win Win! With the name of Kohler, it is no surprise that the most impressive art, within the center, exists in the bathrooms!

The Kohler Art center strives to bring art to enliven, enrich, and inform in every facet of life. In this pursuit, they provided artists with opportunities to create new bodies of work using the materials of Kohler Co. They succeeded in this endeavor as we made sure we went into every bathroom in the building! Perhaps their motto should be, “enriching life as you go”!

Away from town is the number one attraction in the Sheboygan area, Bookworm Botanical Gardens. There is a trolley, $1.00 a day, which travels from the marina to the gardens. However, it does not operate on Sundays. The trolley does operate on Mondays, but the gardens are closed on Mondays. SO…we call an uber ($20).

The Bookworm Botanical Gardens are inspired by children’s literature. Each garden has a theme, and each theme has numerous related books. There are 72 books displayed within the gardens.

Here are a few of the many books on display within the beautiful gardens.

Tom and I found two literary characters we each identified with:

Even though the books are geared toward younger children, the gardens themselves are enjoyable for all ages. They were absolutely gorgeous on this bright sunny day!

The only blemish to this beautiful day, and not a small one, was getting back to the marina. All ubers seemed to have disappeared and the cab service wasn’t answering calls! It took us a while, but eventually a cab provided us a ride home ($20)!

While there are not the numerous cute local shops as seen in other small towns, Sheboygan does have a fair amount of restaurants. We are visiting on a Sunday and Monday, so many were closed during our visit. We do find a “supper club” called Rupp’s and head there for Sunday dinner. We are hungry after a full day of sightseeing, so perhaps a supper club is just what we need!

Rupp’s is a family owned supper club since the 1970’s. We were fortunate to have the daughter of the owner as our waitress. The atmosphere and the food definitely takes you back to another era. Apparently, supper clubs are a Wisconsin “thing”. With the relish trays, juicy steaks, made from scratch side dishes and ice cream drinks, it is a unique regional culinary tradition in which Wisconsin stakes the only claim. A supper club is all about slow food enjoyed among people you love along with, of course, a Wisconsin Old Fashion. Wisconsin has over 300 of these supper clubs, which is more than you can find in all the other 49 states combined! The dinner was very tasty and we enjoyed our “supper club” experience.

Sheboygan surprised us with its unique charm. Next stop: Manitowoc.